Let Love Control Knowledge
8: 1-6
Let love control knowledge DIG: Why did some of the Corinthians need to let love control their knowledge? What “knowledge” did the Corinthians think they had? What was the result of the “knowledge?” Although Paul did not dispute that “knowledge,” what does he mean by contrasting it with love? What caused Paul to be so intolerant of idols?
REFLECT: Have you ever been accused by a nonbeliever of doing something that a “believer is not supposed to do?” If so, how did you handle the situation? What did you learn from it? What parallels can you draw between the “eating meat offered to idols” controversy in Corinth and your own life? Are there any ethical issues that might be considered gray areas?
Love and knowledge must go together.
Smoking or eating big macs were not matters of concern in the Corinthian church. They faced other pressing issues. Namely, as they asked Paul “Are we free to eat meat sacrificed to idols?” This would be no big deal to us. After all, I can’t remember the last time I was tempted to eat an Idol Burger. But make no mistake about it – this issue not only threatened to divide the church in Corinth even further (if that were possible), but it placed at risk the fragile faith of many in that city who were saved out of a background steeped in idol worship. So, they asked Paul about it. His answer, while being rather lengthy (to see link click Bj – Concerning Our Liberty in Messiah), lays out for us a number of practical principles that will help us to navigate our lives around the gray areas that we face each and every day.
While this dispute might seem silly to us, it was anything but silly to a young, struggling church trying to survive in a culture of paganism and polytheism. We get a glimpse of what life was like in downtown Corinth by Luke’s cryptic description of Athens as a city full of idols (Acts 17:16). As Athens was . . . so was Corinth. Statues of false gods lined the streets. Temples to those idols filled the back alleys. Many, if not most, of the members of the church at Corinth were saved out of a background of idol worship. They were troubled by vivid memories of times spent in those temples, worshiping at the feet of pagan gods.214
We know that we all have knowledge (8:1-3): Now about food sacrificed to idols. Paul begins this section with “Now about,” a phrase that was part of Paul’s typical response to the letter that the Corinthians had sent him asking for his advice on certain issues. Now about food sacrificed to idols (8:1a). The word sacrificed to idols (Greek: eidolothytos) appears to have been a Greek word coined by believers in the first century precisely because of the concern over the issue of how to handle food that had been sacrificed to idols. In a society filled with idols and pagan temples, what should a believer do?
We know that, as you say, “We all have knowledge” (8:1b). As with his, “Now about” comment above, so here also he appears to begin with a quotation from the letter written to him. It seems that some in Corinth were justifying their behavior by claiming certain knowledge, presumably the knowledge that idols, in fact, were only made with human hands and did not really represent any true reality.215 While Paul concedes that point, he also points out that such knowledge can easily lead to pride and arrogance. Yes, that is so, but “knowledge” puffs a person up with pride; whereas love builds up (8:1c). What is far more important than knowledge is love, especially the issue of whether this love is being used to build other believers up. In other words, our love must control our knowledge.
A know-it-all attitude is only evidence of arrogance. The person who really knows the truth is only too conscious of how much he does not know. Furthermore, it is one thing to know doctrine, and quite another to know God. It is possible to grow in Bible knowledge but not grow in grace or in one’s personal relationship with God. The test is love. Love and knowledge must go together: speaking the truth in love (Eph 4:15). It has been well said, “Knowledge without love is brutality, and love without knowledge is hypocrisy.”216
Without actually saying so, Paul raises doubts about their possession of knowledge. Because the acquisition of knowledge about spiritual things should ultimately lead to the benefit of other believers, Paul questioned whether the Corinthians really did have the knowledge they claimed. The person who thinks he “knows” something doesn’t yet know in the way he ought to know (8:2). True knowledge is not merely Bible trivia, but in living in a way that pleases ADONAI. If our knowledge doesn’t affect the way we live it is useless to us.
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your great love. Praise You that Your love is not mere words, but You have shown Your great love by actions – by Your willingness to offer Yourself as the sin offering of the world (Second Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 2:8) suffering pain and shame (Hebrews 12:2). It is wonderful that You made the requirement to enter heaven to not be money or knowledge – but our faith (Romans 5:2) which comes from love.
You are so wise in making love to be the greatest commandment and love for others as the second greatest commandment. And He said to him: You shall love ADONAI your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Mt 22:37-40). It is easy to love You dear Father, for You are so wonderful, but sometimes it is hard to love others. May You help us remember that showing love to you includes showing love for others, not in mere words, but in actions (1 John 3:10 and 18). Thank You for Your wonderful example of love! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
However, if someone loves God, God knows him (8:3). Paul stresses that if anyone truly loves God, which inevitably also involves loving others (Matthew 22:37-40; First John 4:11 and 19-21), then that person is known by God. Such divine knowledge is a euphemism for God’s election and salvation of that person: The Lord knows His own (Second Timothy 2:19b). What an incredible privilege to be known and loved by ADONAI.217 After these introductory remarks, Paul brings up the specific subject at hand.
We know that an idol is nothing (8:4-6): So then, Paul begins a new topic and follows this introductory phrase with we “know,” which once again suggests that the next phrase is a quotation from the Corinthian letter to him. As for eating food sacrificed to idols, we “know” that, as you say, “An idol has no real existence in the world, and there is only one God” (8:4). This phrase seems to be the basis on which some of the Corinthians were eating food sacrificed to idols, namely, that so-called “gods” simply do not exist because there is only one God.
Paul agrees with them up to a point. For even if there are so-called “gods,” either in heaven or on earth – as in fact there are “gods” and “lords” galore – (8:5). Paul knows that the world is full of “gods” and “lords” that are real rivals to the one true God and he will not dismiss them so lightly. Yes, an idol itself is only a man-made object. But behind it lies a spiritual being who rivals YHVH . . . a demon. What the Corinthians have not taken seriously is that pagan temples are the home of demonic activity and fellowshipping where they live is to fellowship with them! Later in his letter Paul will declare: So, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols has any significance in itself? No, what I am saying is that the things which pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice not to God but to demons (10:19-20a).
And I don’t want to become sharers with demons (10:20b). Paul didn’t have much tolerance for idols. His attitude came from his Jewish background, for after the exile in Babylon (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule), God’s people lost all attraction to idols. The message of prophets like Isaiah regarding the dangers of spiritual idolatry had finally sunk in (see the commentary on Isaiah Hy – Worship the LORD, Not Idols). Paul was deeply disturbed by all the idols he saw in Athens (see the commentary on Acts Cb – An Unknown God in Athens). He praised the Thessalonian believers for turning to God from idols (1 Thess 1:9). And notice how often Paul includes idolatry in a list of serious sins (1 Cor 5:11 and 5:9; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5). Paul had no intention of letting those arrogant Corinthians, with their “sophisticated knowledge,” engage in anything that he considered sinful, dangerous, or demonic.
Before Paul gets into “the meat” of his argument (see Bm – The Weaker Brother or Sister), he cites an expanded version of what might be called the Believers Sh’ma: Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist. And one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom were created all things and through whom we have our being (8:6). Paul uses this confession as the foundation of his argument against the Corinthians’ behavior. Associating with the many other false “gods” and “lords,” ruptures the relationship with the one true God and Lord (see Bt – Run From Idolatry). It bars any participation in idolatry, even if it appears harmless on the surface of things, like friends gathering for a pleasant meal in an idol’s temple.218
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